The Borders Music Festival is proud to introduce our inaugural Emerging Artists programme — five exceptional young Scottish soloists who will perform alongside the Borders Chamber Orchestra in our Come and Sing — Mozart Requiem on Saturday 12th September.
Our 2026 Emerging Artists are:
Katie Carmichael — Soprano
Scottish Soprano, Katie Carmichael, has recently graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with
her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance where she was taught by Elizabeth McCormack. This year Katie
joins the Rising Stars of Voice programme at the Edinburgh International Festival in August and is currently a
young artist on British Youth Opera’s Serena Fenwick Programme in collaboration with Garsington Opera
for 2026.
Awards include Governor’s Recital Competition 1st Prize, the A Ramsay Calder Debussy Prize, Leonie
Kayser Competition 1st Prize, Winnie Busfield Award and 2nd Prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary
Competition for young singers.
Katie’s recent concert performances includes Bruckner Mass in D Minor, Mahler Symphony No.4, Mozart
Requiem, Vesperae solennelle de confessore and Poulenc Gloria. Her recent credits include Pamina, Die
Zauberflote (Lyric Opera Studio Weimar) and Servant, Cendrillon (RCS) along with a series of scenes
performed in July at Garsington Opera with British Youth Opera’s Serena Fenwick Programme.
Katie has been a young artist on the RCS Associate Artist Programme with Mezzo Soprano Karen Cargill and
participated in Sir James MacMillan’s Mentoring Programme with the Cumnock Tryst Festival in 2024. In
the summer of 2025 Katie was a young artist on the International Vocal Competition s-Hertogenbosch
singer sessions.
Caitlin Mackenzie — Mezzo-soprano
Isle of Lewis born mezzo-soprano Caitlin Mackenzie is a recent graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she completed her MMus studies with Elizabeth McCormack.
Caitlin is a Samling Artist, and a keen oratorio soloist, with recent performances alongside the Sòlas Ensemble of Mozart’s Requiem and Bruckner’s Mass in D Minor, as well as Solos in Handel Messiah, Britten Rejoice in the Lamb, Mozart Mass in C Minor, Requiem and Vespers and Karl Jenkins The Armed Man.
Caitlin’s recent credits include Auntie (Peter Grimes) with British Youth Opera, Dritte Damme (Die Zauberflöte) and Spirit (Cendrillon) at the RCS, as well as performances as a member of the Scottish Opera Chorus in Gluck Orfeo and Euridice at the Edinburgh International Festival, and Puccini La Bohème. Later this year, Caitlin is looking forward to rejoining the chorus at Scottish Opera for their productions of Puccini Turandot and Handel Alcina.
Austin Smith — Tenor
Austin graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a BMus (Hons) in Vocal Performance in 2025 and is currently studying towards a Master’s degree at the same institution. Under the guidance of Julian Tovey, he has continued to expand his repertoire while refining his vocal technique and artistry.
During his first year of postgraduate study, Austin performed in a variety of opera scenes and showcases, appearing as Idomeneo in Idomeneo, Jaquino in Fidelio, and Dr Blind in Die Fledermaus.
Alongside his solo studies, Austin has maintained a strong passion for choral singing. During his undergraduate years, he sang with the National Youth Choir of Scotland and his local youth choir in Greenock, experiences that fostered a lasting appreciation for ensemble performance. In April 2026, he was honoured to represent the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on a performance tour of China, continuing his commitment to choral music on an international stage.
Timi Bimbo-Adeola — Baritone
Oluwatimilehin Bimbo-Adeola is a Nigerian Bass-baritone currently in his third year of study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Julian Tovey. He was awarded first prize in the Hugh S Robertson Prize for Scottish Singing and was highly commended in the Molly Robb prize for young singers.
Outside the conservatoire, Timi made his Operatic debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under the baton of Thomas Søndergaard, singing the roles of Le Fauteuil and Le Chat in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges. He was also part of the inaugural NOS Academy and recently returned to the National Opera Studio as a 2025/26 academy singer, performing the roles of Masetto, Papageno and Don Alfonso in their Opera Scenes performance.
Timi has sung with the RSNO Chorus as Bass soloist in Mozart Requiem and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, he’s also sung in the chorus with the RSNO for their performances of Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, and with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in the most recent performances of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. He also joined the National Youth Choir of Scotland to open Edinburgh International Festival 2025 and then later on to mark the 90th anniversary of the BBC SSO.
Timi has been privileged to receive masterclasses from great singers and coaches of which include; Sir Thomas Allen, Susan Bullock & John Fisher, and was selected to represent his conservatoire in the Sir Bryn Terfel Inaugural Song Prize and Residency where he received coaching from Sir Bryn Terfel and Rebecca Evans. He will also be
singing in the chorus in the British Youth Opera’s summer production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, and in the Opera Caledonia’s production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Alex White — Bass
Alex White is a Scottish-Russian bass from Edinburgh, currently in his final year of the BMus vocal studies programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, studying under Professor Stephen Robertson. As a soloist, Alex has performed the role of L’Arbre (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges) with the RSNO as well as The Raja in Kenneth Tay’s oratorio, The Redhill Passion. He has sung as a soloist with the Glasgow Bach Cantata Project in numerous concerts including the role of Petrus in their Bach’s, St Matthew Passion and the role of Petrus and Pilatus with Paisley Abbey’s performance of Bach’s, St John Passion. Further credits include soloing with National Youth Choir of Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival in Taverners’ Veil of the Temple and Tippetts Spirituals as well as Puccini’s Messa di Gloria at the Isle of Arran Arts Festival.
Alex also has an extensive choral background, beginning as a treble chorister at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, before holding bass choral scholarships at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, Canada, later at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh and most recently, at Paisley Abbey whilst remaining a deputy for numerous churches and cathedrals in the central belt of Scotland. Alex also has a keen interest in consort and chamber music, singing in groups such as the Dunedin Consort, the 15th cohort of the GenesisSixteen, Echo Vocal Ensemble, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus, the National Youth Choir of Scotland Chamber Choir, Edinburgh University Chamber Choir, Glasgow Chamber Choir and Calton Consort.
Alex is very excited and honoured to be a Borders Music Festival Emerging Artist.
These talented musicians represent the very best of the next generation of Scottish classical singing. We look forward to sharing their artistry with audiences at Melrose Parish Church on 12th September.
Tickets for the evening performance are available now. Under 18s go free.